In 2012, the College of Southern Nevada selected TSK to renovate and design an addition to the oldest building on its campus on West Charleston Boulevard. The original building had been renovated and added onto four times previously and had a mixed material palette and disparate design elements. The building renovation was to occur in the center of the building while the east and west wings of the building were to remain occupied and functional during construction.

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Before design, TSK conducted an existing building analysis to verify program relationships with the existing building capacities and constraints, and conducted a thorough review of previous renovations and additions to understand the use and application of materials and design elements. The major program elements were “test fit” within the existing building to determine which elements would work within the existing structural support system. In addition, the circulation organization of the existing condition was chaotic and unintuitive.

While developing the test fit scenarios, great effort was placed into simplifying the circulation system into a navigable organization. Once internal circulation and organization were solidified, the exterior addition and design elements were analyzed to develop a means of unifying the varying materials and themes.

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The building program included an interior renovation and addition for general classrooms, staff and faculty offices, a lobby/lounge space and educational spaces and labs for the physical therapy, ophthalmic dispensing and radiation therapy programs.

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The massing of the addition was developed to create a definitive building entrance, a front “porch” as a gathering space for students, and as a termination to the north/south pedestrian walkway to enhance indoor and outdoor student spaces. The addition anchors an arrival plaza which serves as a transitional zone from the parking lot to the building patio. The plaza is fed by an enhanced, tree-lined pedestrian walkway that connects the A Building to the rest of the campus. The most prominent feature of the addition is a lobby which has been designed as a 100 percent daylit space with appropriate shading and sun control. The lobby is intended as a student collaboration space and provides a mix of seating types for independent study, group interactions or as a place to relax and recharge between classes.